Mosaic ramps up Canadian underwriting team

Mosaic Insurance has added four underwriting specialists as it looks to rapidly expand its presence in Canada.

The underwriting team will provide global capacity in five lines of business to brokers and clients across Canada, the company said.

The global firm opened an office in Toronto last July, and since then, has expanded coast to coast in the Canadian specialty insurance market across five product lines — cyber, transactional liability, financial institutions, professional liability, and environmental liability.

“We’re tremendously proud of building our team of strong underwriting talent in five core product lines across all major Canadian geographies,” said head of Canada Ian Fraser. “It’s a lot to have accomplished in a relatively short period of time. Our focus remains on creating innovative solutions for clients.”

Fraser is joined in the Toronto hub by a team of four fellow specialists all of whom are vice presidents and underwriters for their respective lines:

Reynaldo Batac, professional liability, cyber & financial institutions, previously developed and led the financial, professional, technology and cyber divisions at Sovereign Insurance in Toronto.

Kyle Gray, cyber, has 14 years of underwriting experience in specialty insurance, previously leading a start-up Canadian cyber MGA. Prior to that, he developed and led profitable cyber, errors & omissions, and directors & officers portfolios at CNA Canada and Trisura.

Ricardo Philip, environmental liability, has more than 25 years of environmental insurance experience in loss control, underwriting, and portfolio management at AIG, ACE INA Insurance (now Chubb), and Markel Canada..

Charlie Zilvytis, transactional liability, focuses on complex Canadian and international M&A transaction risks. Previously, he worked as a corporate associate at Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP, representing clients in a broad range of corporate matters, including M&A and private equity transactions.

Mosaic’s hybrid global model combines capacity from its own Lloyd’s syndicate, 1609, with capital from a consortia of carrier partners seeking regional access and underwriting expertise in non-commoditised specialty lines. Mosaic retains decision-making control over rates, line sizes, and claims settlement.

“Our syndicated capital program is an integral part of the differentiating value we offer the Canadian market,” said Fraser. “It allows us to distribute syndicated capacity directly, and that provides diversification to clients. It’s what they want and it’s unique in Canada.”

Caption: Mosaic’s underwriting team in Canada (from left): Ricardo Philip (Environmental Liability); Kyle Gray (Cyber); Reynaldo Batac (Professional Liability, Cyber & Financial Institutions); Charlie Zilvytis (Transactional Liability), and Head of Canada Ian Fraser